1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a ram press for pressing liquid out of material being pressed. The material which is to be pressed is introduced into a cylindrical shell onto a perforated press plate arranged beneath the shell and pressed there by a press ram. To enable the press ram to enter the shell, it is guided in an upwardly and downwardly movable manner and drivable by a pressure cylinder carried by a press head which is fixedly connected to the press plate above the shell.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A ram press of this kind is known from German Offenlegungsschrift (unexamined patent application) No. 2 846 760. In this known ram press, the shell is mounted for pivotal motion about a vertical axis so that after the material has been pressed out on the press plate, the shell can be moved into a position in which the pressed-out material can be conveyed away through the bottom opening in the shell.
A further ram press is known from German Offenlegungsschrift (unexamined patent application) No. 3 506 382. Herein, the shell is not mounted for pivotal motion but for motion up and down in the vertical direction.
For this up and down motion of the shell, the latter is attached to two arms which are guided along two vertical columns. After the material has been pressed out, the shell is raised to enable the pressed-out material to be conveyed away sidewardly.
In both known ram presses, introduction of the press ram into the shell requires that the press ram and the shell be arranged coaxially with each other with a very high degree of precision. This leads to considerable difficulties in the construction of the ram press owing to manufacturing tolerances. In a time-consuming operation, sheet metal spacers of various thicknesses must be inserted for centering the shell. Since the ram press is disassembled for transportation, problems arise again during assembly owing, for example, to the correct sheet metal spacers having to be inserted at the correct place. The same difficulties occur when the shell must be exchanged for different washing systems.